The purpose of Buddhist practice is not to become a Buddhist but to awaken to the nature of reality.

Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are fruitless in a man who does not act in accordance with them.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

The highest truth cannot be taught except through the conventional truth.

If I had any position, I would thereby have a flaw. But since I have no position, I alone am without flaw.

When you understand that all phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self, attachment naturally falls away.

The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your actions will be.

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.

Panic, anxiety, and stress are not obstacles to the practice. They are the path to wisdom and compassion.

Without darkness, there is no light. Without the path, there is no arrival.

The experience of emptiness engenders compassion.

Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows.

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.

The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.

Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate. Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted. Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled. Look within, be still.

The heart of one who practices is like the earth. No matter what they throw on it, the earth remains unchanged.

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.

Our basic nature is pure awareness that simply cognizes experience. Everything else is temporary and adventitious.

Meditation is like a gym in which you develop the powerful mental muscles of calm and insight.

Those who understand interdependent origination understand suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.

Knowledge must be stabilized by meditation. Without meditation, knowledge is like a child in battle.

The path is not about moving from one place to another. It's about recognizing where we already are.

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.

The knowledge of dissolution comes when you see both the noting mind and noted object dissolving together.

What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale.

Change is possible because there is nothing inherently permanent about our disturbing emotions.

Appearances are mind, mind itself is emptiness, emptiness itself is spontaneous presence.

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.

Smile, breathe, and go slowly.

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

The heart of the path is quite simple. No need for long explanations. Give up clinging to love and hate, just rest with things as they are.